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There is in all men a demand for the superlative, so much so that the poor devil that has no other way of reaching it attains it by getting drunk.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
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Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Age: 93 †
Born: 1841
Born: March 8
Died: 1935
Died: March 6
Judge
Jurist
Lawyer
Philosopher
Politician
University Teacher
Boston
Massachusetts
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Oliver W. Holmes
Jr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr
Holmes
Oliver Wendell
Jr.
Oliver Wendell
Jr. Holmes
Oliver Wendell Holmes
Jr
Oliver Holmes
Jr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes
jr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes
Jr.
Poor
Superlatives
Much
Attains
Way
Drunkenness
Men
Reaching
Drunk
Devil
Demand
Getting
Superlative
More quotes by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Science is the topography of ignorance. From a few elevated points we triangulate vast spaces, inclosing infinite unknown details. We cast the lead, and draw up a little sand from abysses we may never reach with our dredges.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
[The Constitution] is an experiment as all life is an experiment.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
I have no respect for the passion of equality, which seems to me merely idealizing envy - I don't disparage envy, but I don't accept it as legitimately my master.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Our morality seems to be only a check on the ultimate domination of force, just as our politeness is a check on the impulse of every pig to put his feet in the trough.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
To be civilized is to be potentially master of all possible ideas, and that means that one has got beyond being shocked, although one preserves one's own moral aesthetic preferences.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Go on, fair Science soon to thee Shall Nature yield her idle boast Her vulgar lingers formed a tree, But thou hast trained it to a post.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
The worst of a modern stylish mansion is that it has no place for ghosts.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Under bad manners, as under graver faults, lies very commonly an overestimate of our special individuality, as distinguished from our generic humanity.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
People talk fundamentals and superlatives and then make some changes of detail.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
One of the eternal conflicts out of which life is made up is that between the effort of every man to get the most he can for his services, and that of society, disguised under the name of capital, to get his services for the least possible return.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
I despise making the most of one's time. Half of the pleasures of life consist of the opportunities one has neglected.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
The root of joy, as of duty, is to put all one's powers towards some great end.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Where we stand is not as important as the direction in which we are moving.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
We must think things not words, or at least we must constantly translate our words into the facts for which they stand, if we are to keep to the real and the true.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Any tax is a discouragement and therefore a regulation so far as it goes.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
To an imagination of any scope the most far reaching form of power is not money, it is the command of ideas
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
The mode by which the inevitable comes to pass is effort.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Leisure only means a chance to do other jobs that demand attention.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
To brag little, to lose well, / To crow gently if in luck, / To pay up, to own up, / To shut up if beaten, / Are the virtues of a sportingman.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
There is one gratification an old author can afford a certain class of critics that namely, of comparing him as he is with what he was. It is a pleasure to mediocrity to have its superiors brought within range.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
